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Early Life of Alice Stopford Green:
Alice Stopford Green was a well-known historian who was born in 1847 in Kells, County Meath in

Ireland. She was the daughter of Edward Adderly Stopford and had eight siblings. Her father became

Rector of Kells and Archdeacon of Meath in 1844. He was appointed by his father Edward Stopford

who was the Bishop of Meath in 1844. Her older brothers served the Empire by joining the Army, the

Navy, commerce and the colonies. And her younger brother went on to build railways in Africa.

Alice stayed with her family in Ireland until her father passed away in 1874. As a result of his death

Alice and her family moved to Chester, England. Her father had moved to Dublin before his death to

work in the politics of reorganising the Church after Disestablishment.

'''Alice had a network of family members throughout London and she stayed with her cousin Stopford

Brooke. Now living in London with her cousin, Alice was open to new people in the city. She was

introduced to JR Green, an unsuccessful academic who would later continue on to becoming an

important historian from his post as a parish clergyman first of all and then later as an established

author of the acclaimed book ‘Short History of the English people’. This book was published in 1874

and it set standards in historical writing by bringing social and cultural factors.

In 1880, Green worked on ‘The Making of England’ and ‘The Conquest of England’. He had wedded

Alice by this time and they spent six years married in a happy, creative relationship. She worked as

an apprentice historian with him picking up his methods of work. In 1883, Green died of an acute

illness that left Alice in despair. But she was determined not to give into the grief and let herself be

taken over by it.' ( repeat stuff)'' -- After the death of her father, Edward Adderley Stopford, the family moved to London, where here

cousin, Stopford Augustus Brooke, had built up a number of relationships with important

intellectuals around London, England. Through him, Alice met her husband John Richard Green, they were

married in June 1877. They were married until 1883, when he died due to an illness in his lungs.

John was a well-respected and published English historian and during John and Alice’s marriage, she

helped him write some of his publishing’s. As a result of her marriage to John and her cousin’s

network, Alice met a lot of England’s leading historians and intellectuals of that era. She gained a

reputation as an intellectual and robust conversationalist. After her husband’s death, her house

became a meeting place for scholars, politicians as well as social and political activists. Londoners

such as Florence Nightingale and Winston Churchill visited her house.

Her first work was published in 1888, a book titled Henry the Second, she went on to have 6 more

books published before her death. She also had many writings about women’s rights in newspapers

like the Times, although she was a signees of the ‘Appeal against Women’s Suffrage's’.

In the 1890’s she started getting involved in political issues. During this time period Alice met the

British explorer and scientific writer, Mary Kingsley, together they form the African Society. This

society helped finance the setting up of the West African Mail, they also invited many African chiefs

and elders to London. This and the publication of ‘the Journal of African Society’ sparked discussion

on Africa and the British colonialism policies over there, especially in South Africa which both Alice

and Mary were strongly opposed to.

Through this work, Alice met Roger Casement. Casement wrote a letter to Green, he said that the

West African desire for independence, particularly in Congo where Casement had worked and

documented crimes against natives by the colonists, should appeal to every Irish person.

It wasn’t just Casement who got her interested in Irish nationalism, her husband encourage her

sympathies to the cause, also the rise of the Gaelic League.

Her most influential work was ‘Irish Nationality’, published in 1911. It was said to be the most

influential work in shaping the ‘mind’ of Ireland early on since Thomas Davis’ essays. According to

the Yorkshire Post, in February 1911, Green was the most important Irish writer of that time period.

In 1918, Green moved back to Ireland, she moved into a house on St. Stephens Green, again like her

home in London, her home became a She moved to Dublin in 1918 where her house became an

intellectual center for scholars around Ireland.